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Ileana D'Cruz: On the sets of Raid, Ajay Devgn was always chatting with Nysa or Yug

The movie Raid will see Ajay Devgn play the role of a deputy commissioner of Income Tax and the movie also stars Ileana D’Cruz as his wife and Saurabh Shukla in a vital role.

Describing her movie character in an interview with a leading daily, Ileana said, “Even though the film is about the raid with Ajay (Devgn) as an income tax officer, I do have a pivotal role. I admit, in terms of footage, it’s not large, but it’s an interesting part of the film. My character is not a demure biwi from the ’80s. She is sensible, speaks her mind and is quite the force behind him. The equation between them comes out in the songs and in the emotional scenes where you realize she is worried for him yet tries to put up a brave front.”


On being asked whether there are plans on working with Ajay Devgn again after Raid and Baadshaho, Ileana said, “There’s no plan as of now, but I’d love to work with Ajay again because he’s been doing a lot of content-driven films and is a nice, positive person to hang out with. On the sets, he was always chatting with his daughter (Nysa) or son (Yug) and since I was invariably listening in, I now feel I know his whole family.”

Ajay Devgn had earlier said about his role in Raid, "The character is very heroic but the struggle was that it is a real character. So we had to make a conscious effort to keep it real. Even if he has to say a punch line it should look like it is said by a real person. We have done our best to portray the character as realistically as possible, but now time will tell if the audience will like it."

Ajay was asked if he had met people from the department for research for the film. On this, he said,  "We didn’t have to, Ritesh (writer) and Rajkumar Gupta understood a lot from him. To speak, the film is based on a real person so while shooting we knew when and how they felt at a certain point of time, so it was easy to follow those instructions. I don’t know if the film is trying to give a message but what film talks about is true. You should be fair on tax. If you earn something then you have to pay taxes. At times the fault is on both sides, from the taxation department and the taxpayer, so I feel they should be just on both sides."

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Javed Akhtar defends propaganda films, says ‘every story takes some stand’ as he praises 'Dhurandhar'

Javed Akhtar has pushed back against the growing tendency to categorise films as propaganda

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Javed Akhtar defends propaganda films, says ‘every story takes some stand’ as he praises 'Dhurandhar'

Highlights

  • Akhtar says every filmmaker has the right to express ideas through films
  • He challenges the way certain films are branded as propaganda
  • The veteran writer links storytelling to changing social values

A defence of creative intent over labels

Veteran lyricist and screenwriter Javed Akhtar has pushed back against the growing tendency to categorise films as propaganda, arguing that storytelling has always involved a point of view. Speaking to reporters on the sidelines of an event in Kolkata, where he received a special award from a jewellery brand, Akhtar said he does not subscribe to the way the term is currently used in public debate.

He cited his appreciation for Dhurandhar, noting that he preferred the first instalment to its sequel. For Akhtar, the issue lies less in the content of films and more in how audiences respond to differing perspectives.

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